Dr. Zhang’s broad research interests include the cognitive, motivational, and emotional foundations of personality. Specifically, her research focuses on four areas: 1) personality and self development across the life span, 2) adult attachment and interpersonal dynamics, 3) sending, decoding, and co-regulation of emotions in interpersonal relationships, 4) cross-cultural comparison of person perception and implicit theories of personality. Dr. Zhang is a social and personality psychologist.

Academic Programs

Psychology

Undergraduate Courses Taught

General Psychology

Statistics

Personality

Research Seminar

Graduate Courses Taught

Personality Psychology

Publications & Editorships

Zhang, F. & Parmley M. (2011). What your best friend sees that I don’t see: Comparing close friend dyads and casual acquaintance dyads on the perception of emotional facial expressions of varying intensities. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 28-39.

Zhang, F. (2009). The Relationship between State Attachment Security and Daily Interpersonal Experience. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 511–515.

Zhang, F. & Li, T. G. (2011, July). Adult attachment style and experience of daily positive and negative events. Poster presented at the plenary conference of the International Society for Research on Emotion, in Kyoto, Japan.

1) Adult attachment. I am interested in the development of attachment styles across the life span as well as the relationship between attachment style and interpersonal behavior and cognition. Attachment style are distinct patterns people have for viewing and being involved in close relationships. I have collaborated with Dr. Gisela Labouvie-vief from Wayne State University (now in University of Geneva, Sweden), Dr. Itziar Alonso-Arbiol from University of the Basque Country in Spain, and Dr. TongGui Li from Beijing University in China in a number of investigations of individual differences in attachment style.

2) Perception of facial expressions of emotions. Facial expressions reflecting happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, contempt, and disgust are commonly observed in everyday life and are considered primary emotional expressions. Accurately perceiving facial expressions, especially subtle expressions of emotions, can be beneficial to individuals because it allows them to correctly interpret another person’s state of mind and respond accordingly. My research investigates individual, contextual, and cultural differences in the perception of expressions. I have collaborated with Dr. Maria Parmley and Dr. Sarah Cavanagh at Assumption and two Chinese colleagues, Dr. Ping Yao from Beijing University and Dr. XiaoAng Wan from Tsinghua University, on this research.

3) Serenity and Buddhist psychology. The interplay between culture, religion (specifically, Buddhism), and emotion interests me a great deal. Cultures differ in what they consider to be ideal emotions. Western cultures endorse high-arousal positive emotions, such as happiness, excitement, joy, and ecstasy, whereas Eastern cultures value low-arousal positive emotions, such as serenity, calmness, peace, and tranquility, best exemplified by the serene smile of the Buddha. Serenity has been described as a transcendent emotional experience that expands consciousness and brings peace, acceptance, and gladness to the individual. My colleague Maria Parmley and I are interested in exploring this transcendent nature of serenity and its relationship to physiological and neurological changes in the body as well as changes in cognition and emotion. We also are collaborating with Dr. Keith Lahikainenm at Assumption and Dr. Soysa Champika from Worcester State University on a project examining links between mindfulness and serenity.

Zhang, F. & Li, T. G. (2011, July). Adult attachment style and experience of daily positive and negative events. Poster presented at the plenary conference of the International Society for Research on Emotion, in Kyoto, Japan.